VISCOUNT BURYrose to call attention to the subject of Buckingham Palace Guard Room, and to move an Address for Copy or Extracts of Correspondence between the Board of Works, the War Office, and the Royal Engineer Department of the Horse Guards, which has taken place thereupon since August last. The noble Lord said, the room was used as a barrack room for about forty men on sentry duty at the Palace; it was entirely insufficient for the accommodation of that number, and the officers complained of the ventilation. The complaints reached the War Office, and orders were given that six windows were to be cut in the wall; but the outside of the Palace being in the jurisdiction of the First Commissioners of Works, and the barrack-room itself under that of the Secretary of State for War, a conflict of jurisdiction had arisen, and the windows had been bricked up. He should like to know the circumstances under which the conflict had arisen, and he would further suggest the desirability of steps being taken to find the men sleeping accommodation elsewhere. The noble Lord concluded by moving his Motion.
§
Amendment proposed,
To leave out from the word "That" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words "an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, that She will be graciously pleased to give directions that there be laid before this House, Copy or Extracts of Correspondence between the Board of Works, the War Office, and the Royal Engineer Department of the Horse Guards, which has taken place on the subject of Buckingham Palace Guard Room, since August last,"—(Viscount Bury,)
—instead thereof.
§ Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
§ MR. LAYARD, who did not object to the production of the Papers, said, the 138 windows were opened without communication with him, and he did not know of the proceeding until it was reported to him by the district surveyor of the Office of Works. He then communicated with the officer in command, who admitted that it was a most improper and irregular proceeding that the windows, which were a disfigurement to the façade of the Palace, should have been opened without any consultation with himself as the authority who had charge of the building. Besides the room being lighted by skylights, the opening of these windows exposed all that went on in the room, which was used as a sleeping room for forty men, to the observation of passers-by in a most objectionable manner. A medical officer reported that the room was not only lighted by a skylight from the roof and from four windows, but partly ventilated from the same sources, and that it was possible to get as much air as could be wanted. Under these circumstances, and on the grounds of irregularity, disfigurement, improper exposure, and. the possibility of obtaining ample ventilation, he directed the openings for the windows to be built up.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.